04/06/2015 22:46Icelandic ‘beach girls’ extend winning streak, set sight on GSSE home gold 2015 Games of the Small States of Europe

Reykjavik, Iceland, June 4, 2015. After completion of the third competition day, teams from Iceland and Monaco boast a perfect record in the women’s Beach Volleyball tournament of the 2015 Games of the Small States of Europe (GSSE) in Reykjavik, Iceland. If they stretch their respective winning streaks through to Friday, Iceland and Monaco will be playing for the gold medal on Saturday at 13:00 GMT.

On Thursday the President of Iceland, Mr Olafur Ragnar Grimsson, paid a visit to the venue of the Beach Volleyball tournament accompanied by First Lady Dorrit Moussaieff, Mr Larus Blondal, President of the Icelandic Olympic Committee (ISI), and by Mr Jason Ivarsson, President of the Icelandic Volleyball Association (see picture below). The CEO of the Icelandic Olympic Committee, Mrs Liney Rut Halldorsdottir, was also in attendance.

Under the eyes of these illustrious guests, Iceland’s Elisabet Einarsdottir and Berglind Jonsdottir beat Malta’s Gertrude Zarb and Alison Borg by 21-10, 21-10 whilst Monaco’s Magali Muratore/Caroline Revel Chion stamped a 21-11, 21-14 win over GSSE three-time gold medallists Mariota Angelopoulou and Zoi Konstantopoulou from Cyprus. Liechtenstein and Cyprus are currently ranked third and fourth, respectively and are likely to fight for bronze later this week. On Thursday Claudia Hasler and Petra Schifferle-Walser of Liechtenstein beat Luxembourg’s Anne Grethen and Rebekka Klerf by 21-9, 21-16.
Iceland and Monaco confirmed their supremacy in the tournament by delivering yet another superb performance and their victories were never to be questioned.

In the men’s competition Liechtenstein’s Manuel Gahr and Maximilian von Deichmann stamped a 21-11, 21-14 victory over Luxembourg’s Djamel Belhaouci and Ben Angelsberg in Pool A whilst in a match where the leadership in Pool B was at stake Andorra’s Genildo Cassiano Da Silva Prado and Xavier Folguera Estruga beat Vladimir Knezevic and Dimitris Apostolou of Cyprus by 21-14, 21-18.

As for the home team of Iceland, they could not stop their losing streak as Orri Jonsson and Einar Sigurdsson were clearly dominated by San Marino’s Ivo Mattia Valentini and Lorenzo Benvenuti (21-10, 21-15). On Friday the duo from San Marino will play Monaco’s Michaël Chamy and Guillaume Imary for fifth place in the final standing. The Icelandic men played better than they had done in their previous outings but they still have to wait to celebrate their first victory on home sand.

In the men’s semis coming up on Friday early afternoon Liechtenstein will play Cyprus whilst Andorra will try to stretch their winning streak in a matchup with the duo from Luxembourg.

Click here to retrieve detailed results which are being updated at the end of each game